Good morning, it’s Wednesday, December 4, 2024. In today’s edition, abortion opponents set 2025 priorities; Education Dept. calls for cell phone policies; don’t brine your turkey in the Great Salt Lake:
Top Stories
ABORTION: Anti-abortion groups see upcoming legislative sessions as an opportunity to leverage President-elect Trump’s pledge to leave reproductive issues to the states. Those groups plan to push model bills through red state legislatures targeting patients seeking abortions in other states, those who would help them and the medication that induces abortions.
Lawmakers have filed bills aimed at restricting access to mifepristone and misoprostol, the two most common abortion-inducing drugs, modeled on legislation that won approval in Louisiana this year. Legislators in other states will seek to undermine some of the pro-abortion rights measures that won approval in November’s elections. And some lawmakers plan to introduce bills requiring abortion tissue to be treated as medical waste.
The big takeaway: There aren’t any states where lawmakers can pass new bans on abortion — virtually every red state has already done so. But that doesn’t mean lawmakers can’t erect new barriers to access through alternative means. Read more at Pluribus News.
EDUCATION: The U.S. Department of Education has called on states and school districts to adopt policies on cell phone use in schools. The department did not offer recommendations on what those policies should be. At least eight states have adopted statewide limits on cell phone use in schools. (New Jersey Monitor)
MORE: Kentucky lawmakers will take up legislation to limit the use of diversity, equity and inclusion practices at public universities, after efforts failed this year. Senate Majority Floor Leader Max Wise (R) said the House and Senate had worked out their differences on DEI legislation before the session begins. (Associated Press)
PUBLIC HEALTH: The Michigan Senate has advanced an eight-bill “Momnibus” package meant to address prenatal and maternal health care. Among the bills are measures to create an unjust care reporting act and to include pregnancy and lactating status in the state civil rights act. (Michigan Advance)
MORE: A bipartisan group of Texas lawmakers will introduce legislation to decriminalize fentanyl test strips, after a previous version failed to make it to Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) desk. Texas is one of just five states that still outlaw fentanyl test strips. (KXAN)
CHILD CARE: Georgia’s Senate Committee on Affordable Childcare held its final hearing Monday on proposals to help families cover the cost of care. The committee is expected to release findings later this month; lawmakers are considering a $1.5 billion investment in a child care trust fund. (Georgia Public Broadcasting)
In Politics & Business
CALIFORNIA: Legislative leaders will limit the number of bills lawmakers can introduce in the next legislative session to 35. The limit is intended to cut down the number of bills introduced, after legislators filed 4,821 measures last year. Of those, nearly half — 2,252 — made it to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) desk. (CalMatters)
NORTH CAROLINA: State elections officials will conduct a hand recount in a race for a state Supreme Court race that Justice Allison Riggs (D) won over Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin (R) by 734 votes, out of more than 5.5 million cast. A statewide machine recount resulted in minor vote changes in some counties, but Riggs’s lead remained exactly the same. (Associated Press)
LEADERSHIP: Alabama Senate Republicans have chosen Sen. Garland Gudger (R) as their new president pro tempore. Gudger replaces Sen. Greg Reed (R), who is resigning to take a position in Gov. Kay Ivey’s (R) administration. (AL.com)
By The Numbers
3: The number of states in which women hold a majority of legislative seats. Colorado and New Mexico join Nevada on the list of states with female majorities. But 13 states will see fewer women in office next year, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. (Associated Press)
$12.4 billion: The amount of money Nevada lawmakers will have to spend in the next two-year general fund budget, the highest projected tax revenue forecast in state history and up 7% over the previous two-year cycle. (Nevada Independent)
Off The Wall
We missed this one from before Thanksgiving: Officials at Great Salt Lake State Park in Utah asked residents not to brine their turkeys in the lake, after park workers found someone’s turkey that had floated away. In a post on social media, the park said the lake is too salty for a proper brine. (AFP)
Residents of Redmond, Wash., home of Microsoft’s headquarters, have voted to name the city’s five new snowplows. The winners: Ctrl + Salt + Delete, Scoop Dogg, Snow-begone Kenobi, The Big Leplowski and Betty Whiteout. Nearby Lynnwood named one of its plows Plowy McPlowface, because of course they did. (KUOW)
Quote of the Day
“It’s time to move forward in Pennsylvania before we fall further behind.”
— Pennsylvania Rep. Rick Krajewski (D), chair of a House Health subcommittee, on his proposal to legalize recreational marijuana. Every state that borders Pennsylvania, except West Virginia, allows recreational use. (Harrisburg Patriot-News)